This invention relates generally to systems for providing individual health histories of animals, for example, in a cattle feedlot operation. More particularly, this invention relates to such a system wherein the identity of each animal and data representing the physical condition and treatment administered to each animal is recorded, made available at the animal's location, and accumulated with earlier data to provide an up-to-date health history of each animal.
Large scale cattle feedlot operations are commonly employed to feed cattle prior to slaughter. Typically, the cattle of a particular owner are identified by a lot number for keeping track of the goods and services provided for the cattle while in the care of the feedlot. Each individual head is further identified with a unique number such as by tag for keeping track of individual treatments required, such as drugs dispensed for each particular sickness, and for monitoring the physical condition of each animal. Through these identifying numbers, the feedlot operation can maintain a health history for each animal in each lot and charge the cattle owner for feed, drugs, and services provided for each head.
This system, although simple to implement, is slow and fraught with error because of the manual effort required to gather and record the data. Typically, data is manually recorded twice. At an animal hospital on the feedlot, cattle are observed and treated if necessary. An operator records in writing the physical condition of each animal, any observed sickness, and the drug treatment administered. This written record is then transferred to a clerk to be entered into a cumulative history. Both recordings are subject to error. Compounding the problem is the the potential for illegible entries, incomplete entries, and lost entries. For example, often cold, adverse weather conditions at a feedlot make it difficult for an operator to grip the pen for writing and also interfere with the flow of ink through the instrument. Moreover, the manual recording and rerecording are lengthy and consequently the cumulative health history is often several days out of date.
These problems associated with manual entry of data are well known, and attempts have been made to minimize the errors in several aspects of feedlot operations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,856 to Linseth discloses an apparatus for separately feeding animals which have not gained sufficient weight. The Linseth apparatus is adapted to weigh each animal as it is walked through a weigh station. An operator reads the identification number that appears on an ear tag of the animal and enters the number into a keyboard connected to a computer. The animal is then weighed and the amount entered into the computer. The computer has stored within its memory different weight ranges for cattle, which the computer compares with the weight of the animal weighed. Each range is related to a gate that leads to a different feeding pen. The computer determines the weight range in which the animals lies and opens the appropriate gate to direct the animal to the desired feeding pen. The procedure is then repeated for reevaluation of the animal after a period of feeding. The Linseth apparatus, however, still requires manual entry of information and lacks any means for creating and displaying at the animal's location a cumulative history of the animal's physical condition and treatment administered.
Other apparatus have addressed individual monitoring of an animal's consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,240 to Ostler, for example, discloses a monitoring apparatus that dispenses a preselected amount of feed to a cow identified by a transmitter around its neck. The feeding station includes a receiver-transmitter in communication with a computer that has stored within its memory a feeding schedule for the animal. The computer determines how much feed is to be dispensed to each animal individually. The operator can thereby control how much each animal eats and monitor if in fact the prescribed amount of food is consumed. But the apparatus is limited in its ability to monitor and control the feeding of cattle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,950 to Byrne et al. similarly discloses an animal food consumption monitor. Each animal bears a tag that includes a miniature transmitter which transmits a signal identifying the animal. The feed station for the animal includes a receiver for identifying the animal before it begins consuming feed. With the animal identified, the food in the station hopper is weighed before and then after the animal feeds to determine the amount consumed. The data on the amount and type of food consumed is then stored for later retrieval. The Byrne monitor, like the Ostler apparatus, identifies the animal without manual effort. But, again, it provides no on-site, up-to-date history of the animal's health.
Although the apparatus described above and others in the prior art offer some improvements in feedlot operations, they do not address the problem of maintaining up-to-date health histories of the physical condition and the drug treatment of the animals. Such histories are critical in determining the progress of a sick animal as well as in keeping track of the cost of drugs for each animal. The manual method is thus still preferred for this purpose.